Naz Durakoğlu was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 16, 2022, to serve as Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs.
Prior to returning to the Department of State, she was Senior National Security Advisor to Senator Jeanne Shaheen from 2017 to 2021. In that capacity, she reestablished and directed the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group.
Previously, Ms. Durakoğlu was a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab where she testified before Congress and researched foreign election interference trends. Ms. Durakoğlu also served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, from 2015 to 2017. She began her career in the U.S. House of Representatives where she held various positions, including as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Keating and Subcommittee Staff Director on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ms. Durakoğlu is a first-generation American who speaks fluent Turkish and holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and a M.A. from the Naval War College.